A Second Wind
Finding Clarity in the Debris
There is a shift taking place in me. Earlier this year, as I was laying in bed recovering from surgery, I was thinking about my purpose. Ages ago, I’d read Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” and in the process identified my personal purpose as “Making the St. Louis Region a Better Place for EVERYONE.” I worked through the workbook, did the exercises and kept landing on this as my personal purpose. It felt too broad - too big for one person. The question Who am I to make an entire region a better place? kept floating through my mind.
I started feeling earlier this year that I needed to clarify my focus - HOW? I sit on every board imaginable. I’m a helper - I jump in and help wherever it’s needed. I’ve helped create and perfect legislation, I’ve counseled and saved many small businesses. I’ve worked to create, preserve and grow neighborhoods. I’ve built my own businesses - and created opportunity for so many in my world. But, exactly HOW am I going to live out this big mission?
Then, the tornado hit in May - hitting two of our businesses. A tornado isn’t inherently a bad thing. It’s just wind and energy. it is our inherent human vulnerability—and the fallibility of our buildings—that transforms a natural event into a disaster. For me, the tornado made its physical impact, but it also took my plans for our business, our profitability and growth, and the work I was already doing in the community and it swirled it all around, changed it in so many ways and then dropped it in a new configuration.
This recent experience wasn’t entirely unfamiliar. Back in 2011, I served as a Public Information Officer following the devastating Joplin tornado. Though it was a terrible time to live through, that crisis gave me an unprecedented opportunity to be authentically myself and truly help. In the face of crisis, I taught The Salvation Army and so many others how to leverage social media in a way it had never been used before in disaster response, allowing us to rapidly deliver aid, raise significant money, and attract crucial media coverage. That work changed the game for the non-profit I was with on a global level, and it was the experience that truly launched my career. The pattern was set: chaos reveals competence.
Ultimately, the 2025 tornado didn’t just reconfigure our buildings; it reconfigured my focus. The disaster created an undeniable opportunity to do what I do best: helping others in the community. This time, however, my efforts were channeled directly into helping small businesses right the ship and navigate the wreckage. I’ve pursued this through organic efforts and in collaboration with local government officials—and the work is succeeding. Though it might be too late for my own two businesses (we’ll see), my core belief remains unshaken: Small businesses are the economic backbone of this region. They employ our people, they attract visitors, and they represent the vital power of people serving people at a local level. Without them, there is no St. Louis region to make better.
In 2026, the work begins. We are reshaping our business to meet the realities of the new economy we are living in, in order to ensure we’re living out our company values of helping our hospitality team have a better quality of life. As I do this and reset our course, I am simultaneously relaunching my consulting business. I will do everything I can privately and in concert with local & state government to stabilize and champion our small businesses by providing them with the focused resources they need to thrive.
This tornado, the second one to violently shake my life and propel me forward, didn’t just reconfigure structures; it granted me resolute, actionable clarity. It provided me with opportunities to do what I do best and partnerships to do it in a bigger way. I know exactly where I’m needed. I will continue moving this region forward, one small business at a time.
My focus is found.
Watch this space.